Talanx Quarterly Profit Falls 19% on Lower Investment Income

Net income declined to €165 million ($220 million) from €204 million [$272.6 million] a year earlier, the Hanover, Germany- based insurer said in a statement today. That compared with a €184.5 million [$246.5 million] estimate of eight analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

CEO Herbert Haas, 59, confirmed a target for full-year profit of at least €700 million [$935 million]. That compares to €762 million [$1.02 billion] reported for 2013, when the sale of Swiss Life Holding AG shares boosted profit by €100 million [$133.6 million]. As €75 million [$100 million] of that amount was booked in the year-earlier quarter, investment income in the current period declined 6.4 percent to €938 million [$1.253 billion].

Following the takeover of Polish insurer Towarzystwo Ubezpieczen i Reasekuracji Warta SA in 2012, Talanx seeks to increase operating profit at its international retail unit to at least €200 million [$267 million] this year from €185 million [$247 million] in 2013 with Warta contributing “slightly below” €80 million [$107 million], it said in June.

The international unit, headed by Torsten Leue, reported a 25 percent earnings increase to €35 million [$46.7 million] for the quarter. Profit at the German retail insurance unit, led by Jan Martin Wicke, rose to €28 million [$37.4 million] from €9 million [$12 million], while earnings at the industrial insurance division, which provides corporate transport, liability and fire coverage, fell 13 percent to €21 million [$28 million].

Hannover Re, the world’s third-biggest reinsurer and 50.2 percent owned by Talanx, reported on Aug. 6 that second-quarter profit rose 10 percent, helped by a lower level of large claims and higher life reinsurance earnings.